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"He means ass," Aidan explains.
"Rory, your brother is not an ass," Emery says. "Now, let's go greet the rest of your family."
Might as well get this disaster over with.
*****
I shouldn't be surprised that my family has turned this into a spectacle, but I find that I am surprised. Or maybe I'm annoyed. Both, probably. Instead of a casual get-together, this has become a courtly spectacle in which my wife and I receive our guests like a medieval laird and his lady. We stand in front of the arbor while every MacTaggart in the entire Highlands files past us to offer their congratulations.
Emery looks even bonnier surrounded by fragrant vine roses and lush rhododendron bushes.
All right, maybe it's not every MacTaggart in creation. But it feels that way. My palm is sore by the time I shake hands with the ninth family member. They all express their joy and relief that I finally settled down with the right woman. What makes them think Emery is the right one, I have no idea. They're a crackbrained lot. Emery is nothing like my ex-wives, and I suppose that's why they assume this marriage will work.
Aye, it will. For one year. According to my rules.
Naturally, my wife hugs every person she meets.
Lachlan slaps me on the arm. "Did ye kidnap her, Rory?"
Erica, my brother's bonnie American wife, holds their toddler son in her arms while she shakes her head at her husband. "Give the poor girl a break. She's not used to the MacTaggart tradition of incessant, well-meaning harassment."
Though I ignore Lachlan's comment, he still seems thoroughly entertained. Why? I haven't done or said anything. But maybe I seem…harried. Can anyone blame me?
Aidan breezes past Lachlan, towing the lovely Calli in his wake. That would be his American wife, the lass he pursued relentlessly last year. Aidan claims her hand while she cradles their baby daughter in a contraption that looks like some type of sling. It hangs over her body at a diagonal.
"Out of the way, Lachie," Aidan says briskly. "Donnae get to hog the new girl."
Lachlan scowls at Aidan's use of the diminutive Lachie. Aye, my older brother hates that nickname. I should start calling him that too, since he sees fit to harass me with abduction comments.
I might be almost smiling, but the expression fails to take hold.
Gavin Douglas approaches too, offering his congratulations. He is Calli's brother, but now the cacan is making my sister unhappy with his "long-distance relationship" bollocks. Emery seems to bond with him, though, in the way two strangers might do when they've both come to a new country. Emery lives here, with me, but Gavin is only around when he visits Jamie. And he's leaving again this afternoon.
No, I don't like the way he's treating my sister.
Emery gets anxious again when I introduce her to my parents, though I doubt anyone else notices. Niall and Sorcha MacTaggart treat her like a true daughter-in-law, as if she'll be in the family for good. I can't tell them this will last one year only, and I married Emery primarily to appease them. Acid churns in my gut, rising higher with every minute that we chat to my parents.
I'm deceiving them. The whole family, in fact. And I'm forcing Emery to share in my deceit.
My mother latches her arms around my wife. "Welcome to the family, Emery. We couldn't be more pleased to meet anyone."
I snort out a half-stifled laugh. "Don't let Lachlan or Aidan hear you say that. They think their wives are the bonniest, most charming women in all the world."
"They are. All our American daughters are equally bonnie and sweet and welcome. But Emery is a wonderful surprise."
"Aye," my father says, remaining stoic about it. A family trait, I suppose. "We were afraid those other ones had put Rory off marriage for good."
"Niall," my mother chastises, "we agreed not to mention the others in front of Emery."
He makes a dismissive noise. "Sorcha, ye cannae treat him like a bairn. Rory's a grown man who can abide hearing his ex-wives mentioned."
I tense up, my expression blank and my eyes trained on my wife. No, I can't abide hearing anyone mention my ex-wives. It fashes me, though I wish it didn't. And I wonder what Emery feels right now, hearing about the three women who left me. She must think there's something wrong with me, which there is.
My three sisters push past our parents, determined to corral my wife. Emery met Jamie yesterday, but my youngest sister still greets her with a hug. Fiona, my oldest sister, offers my wife a friendly introduction and states her agreement with Aidan's idea that she's perfect for me, then Fiona hugs Emery too.
Emery is perfect, but only as a tool to satisfy my family. She is not my soul mate. That's rot, anyway.
Jamie and Fiona wander away while Catriona stays to talk to my wife.
